Craft villages need leadership
Viet Nam News, Vietnam
(14-09-2007)
Luu Duy Dan, vice president of the craft village association, spoke to Thoi bao Kinh te Viet Nam (Vietnam Economic Times) about the association and about how to develop Viet Nam’s handicraft villages.
There are more than 2,000 craft villages nation-wide, creating 13 million jobs and reaching an annual export turnover of US$600 million. Viet Nam’s traditional handicrafts production is still proportionately small scale. Why do you think that is?
In the last few years, Viet Nam’s craft villages have been rapidly developing but they nevertheless lack orientation. The result is a spontaneous and small-scale production rate. The most evident factor for the low level of orientation is the lack of a leader to take responsibility and make a master plan for the craft villages.
Other major issues faced by the craft villages are capital and market accession, product design and advanced technological applications. The craft villages have a hard time accessing financial resources, or investors, which ultimately leads to small-scale production, price dumping and unhealthy competition among villages. All these factors make it difficult to establish prestigious brand names for Vietnamese craft products.
Due to the lack of a brand name on the Vietnamese crafts, it is difficult for the products to be sold in big, foreign markets. Most Vietnamese craft products are exported by middlemen. The foreign market also poses the problem of matching the artistic taste of US, European and Japanese customers. Because of the demands of the foreign markets, most of the villages are producing under sub-contract mode.
At present, 90 per cent of Vietnamese handicraft products are western-styled. Could this be the reason that Vietnamese craft products are less competitive in international markets?
Both design and technology applications are crucial factors in developing the traditional handicraft production of Viet Nam.
It’s a paradox: many craft villages are trying to industrialise the production process instead of trying to diversify the designs. The industrialisation trend means that there are fewer hand-made products, which are the pieces that tend to bring in more money from buyers.
The number of artisans of traditional handicraft villages decreases year by year. So far, the country has no centres or training institution for traditional handicraft production. Countries like China, Japan and Thailand have specialised schools for traditional handicraft training, as well as handicraft institutes and museums.
Could you comment on the idea that the export capacity of Vietnamese handicraft products would be reduced if western-styled designs were not produced ?
It is a false statement. Because each traditional handicraft product carries the unique cultural characteristics of the country. Customers buying traditional handicraft products are actually buying cultural values. Let me give you an example. In traditional handicraft fairs in European countries, customers were interested in Viet Nam’s dan bau (mono-chord musical instrument).
The artisans still need to diversify the designs to satisfy modern art tastes. Currently, there are some Vietnamese artists who were well trained in art schools who can make handicraft products with a nice blend of traditional and modern elements. However, there are very few of these artists, and most products are copied in other villages.
What should the country do to help the handicraft sector grow?
The sector set a target of reaching craft export turnover of $1.5 billion by 2010. So, it is essential to make a master plan for raw material sources, human resource, marketing and financing.
Co-operation among households and villages to create a huge quantity of products for export should be promoted. Meanwhile, art training in colleges and craft villages is essential to create a long-term and stable human resource for handicraft villages. However, to realise this plan, we need an agency to co-ordinate and plan strategies for the development of craft villages. — VNS